In spite of the many economic difficulties between the wars, the School maintained its standards and had 321 boys on the roll – including 31 in the Sixth Form – in 1937 and 330 in 1939.

A new wing at Eversley Court accommodating the assembly hall and science laboratories was opened in June 1930 with a service of dedication. 1930 also saw a visit by the schools inspectorate, the first for ten years – the inspectors highlighted the development of VIth form work and noted a flourishing school and a most favourable impression from the effective teaching, the general behaviour of boys and the whole atmosphere of the school– and the appointment of John Harrison, who was an inspiring history teacher to succeeding generations of pupils until 1971. A school trip to France was again arranged.

1931 – Extracts from the Headmaster’s Report

“We have had a comparatively quiet and uneventful year. However, we have established three new School organisations, viz. the School Society, the Geographical Society and the Fire Brigade. The School Society exists to provide lectures and musical, dramatic and other entertainments on alternate Fridays during the two winter sessions. These entertainments entailed a great deal of hard work by members of staff but there was no charge on the School finances. This year we are carrying through a similar programme. In the Geographical Society, papers have been prepared and read by boys in the Fifth and Sixth Forms; the value of this work, not only in extending reading and knowledge but also in developing confidence and powers of expression, is obvious. The Fire Brigade has established itself as a useful and valuable organisation and showed its efficiency in the display given in July.

The School Cadet Corps was inspected in the Summer Term by the Colonel Commandant of the Sussex Branch of the BNC Association, Col Pryce Peacock, who was delighted with the many-sidedness of the Corps’ work. The Corps held its usual Camp at Firle in September.

The high standard in sports and games has been maintained. The Football XI played 5 matches against secondary schools in Brighton and Hastings, of which 4 were won and 1 lost. The Cricket XI played 8 such games, of which 7 were won decisively and 1 drawn. Westcott added his name to the list of those who have made centuries for the School by scoring 101 not out against Bexhill County School.

In June we held our first Commemoration Day service in the School Hall, the sermon being preached by Rev E G Hawkins MA, the first Headmaster of the School.”

Commemoration Day took place on the first anniversary of the opening of the new wing. At the end of the year, presumably because the tightness of money in the difficult economic situation, the Education Committee halved the funding for prizes, and some boys were awarded ‘honorary prizes’. According to the Headmaster’s notes in the EGS Magazine, the Government was pressured by “a few pacifist elementary school teachers” to withdraw official recognition of and funding for school cadet corps; however, the EGS Corps continued, affiliating to the National Cadet Association. The Headmaster noted “such value as the education given at this school has is due to the whole organisation, of which the Cadet Corps is no unimportant part and the disbanding of the Corps would be as serious a blow to the esprit de corps as, say, the forbidding of football or orchestral music or the teaching of science.”

Items highlighted by the Headmaster in1932 included the biggest and best VIth form in the school’s history; the success of leavers in finding career opportunities despite the difficulties of the economic world but concern at the number of boys leaving before completing their course; and the short-sightedness of the National Economy Campaign being directed against secondary education.

In 1933, notable events were: a school trip to Belgium when the ferry was in collision with another vessel on the return Channel crossing; the Cadet Force “turning a corner”; 23 candidates for the School Certificate; and the roles of Editor and Committee of the EGS Magazine passing from staff to the VIth Form. The Headmaster made particular note of the school’s participation in a Jubilee Pageant (for what jubilee is not stated) which gave a welcome opportunity of working with other local schools, especially Eastbourne High School “whose co-operation was most valuable and promises to solve one of the most difficult problems of school shows”.

School highlights from later in the 1930s were the establishment of cross-country running; steady growth in school numbers with more “special places”; pupils’ achievements in the Eastbourne children’s music festival in 1935; a first tennis match against the High School (won by EGS); school trips to the Rhineland in 1936 and the Black Forest in 1937; a record number of 97 in the Cadet Force in that year – but no annual camp; and S M Caffyn becoming the first Old Grammarian on the Town Council and the Education Committee. 1938 was a good year for leavers being recruited by the Civil Service and Eastbourne Corporation but also saw plans for a new gymnasium being shelved. The decade also saw the emergence of the Eversley Players, comprising mostly Old Boys with one or two members of staff in lead roles and pupils in supporting roles; the Players gave one or more performances each year in Eastbourne and the surrounding area.

In 1939 the school trip was to France and the Cadet Force camp was resumed. Mr E P Kingham retired after thirty-five years on the teaching staff and Mr R M Owen was appointed. At the end of the year 100 boys from Greater London were evacuated to join the school, bringing total numbers to 430 and necessitating the creation of two additional forms. The year also saw the war’s first fatality among Old Grammarians serving in the armed forces – John Chandler, who had left the school in 1932.

1938-39 – Reminiscence provided by Roy Heady (EGS 1937-40)

1938 marked the beginning of the end of the peace. September saw the Munich Agreement, with Chamberlain waving the now infamous piece of paper on his arrival at Hendon Airport. To the keen air-minded youth of the day, it appeared that he flew in on an aircraft of American manufacture: Could this be the tip of the iceberg? Didn’t the RAF have any communication-type aircraft?

School rumbled on, with us in the 5^th form preparing for Cambridge School Certificate  studying “South with Scott” and Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” for English Literature, European and English History 1830-1914 and past papers in Mathematics, French, Chemistry and Biology. Intervals of excitement breached the continuum of study, for example the testing of air raid sirens, a particularly shrill affair located at the dust destructor and old electricity generating station. The idea was that one particularly shrill whistle rather than siren would be heard over the whole town. Well, if everyone held their breath, stopped doing whatever they were doing, had the windows open and knew the timing of the sounding off, then with very acute hearing it might just have sufficed!

Air raid shelters became a matter of concern. How do you protect some 300 boys and staff at a place like Eversley Court? To our disbelief and claustrophobia, the cellars were apparently the answer. Imagine the carnage from a direct hit; but it was, of course a cheap solution, later – I believe – abandoned.

Inexorably, preparations for war marched on, flagged up by an incident at Easter 1939 when an RAF Anson (a light coastal forces bomber capable of 138 mph going downhill with a following wind and requiring the retractable undercarriage to be wound up and down by the wireless operator – 130 turns each time) was trying to establish its position, descended through cloud and pancaked on to the top of Beachy Head, skidding to the edge and falling over the cliff. Not only were all the crew killed but also a walker swept up in the crash. Low cloud, mist and drizzle were by no means unknown at Easter in those days.

Came the great day for the School Certificate examinations to begin. The Hall was cleared and desks set six feet apart as the regulations required. The examinations seemed to go on interminably, but the end came together with that of the last academic year of peace before World War 2 shaped our futures in ways that beggared belief and defied the speculations of the wildest of dreamers.

The School Certificate results were published in August in the Eastbourne Gazette first of all, then came in the post and finally were read by Mr C J Blackburn from his podium at assembly in the new school term. September 1939 was not the time for the average individual to concern himself with the results for, in April, conscription for men of 18 had begun and most of us were coming to 17 and now, as of 3^rd September, war had started, albeit quietly – save for a false alarm one Sunday morning just after Chamberlain had broadcast.

The School and the town had become a reception area, a safe haven for refugees; this meant half and half working, e.g. the morning for EGS and the afternoon for a school from Balham. After one term in the 6^th Science it became all too difficult for me to put my mind to juggling the dimensions of mass, length and time to describe such exciting items as acceleration and the time of swing of a pendulum and various moments of inertia. To tell the truth, I was struck by a large moment of inertia and decided I should leave school.